Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) leaders on Tuesday, 7 July rallied behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A was the most fitting tribute to Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, reaffirming that India's governance would remain strictly bound by the Constitution.

What PM Modi Said

Paying homage to Mookerjee on his birth anniversary on Monday, Prime Minister Modi said the revocation of Articles 370 and 35A fulfilled the vision for which the Jana Sangh founder dedicated and ultimately sacrificed his life. Modi recalled Mookerjee's rallying cry against the idea of 'do samvidhan, do pradhan, do nishan' — two constitutions, two prime ministers, and two flags — within one nation.

'This was not merely a slogan; it was a call for equal rights, a unified Constitution, and a shared national consciousness. He struggled for this cause, endured imprisonment, and ultimately made the supreme sacrifice for the sake of Kashmir,' Modi said. 'Today, our government takes pride in the fact that, by dismantling the wall of Article 370, we have fulfilled Dr Mookerjee's dream.'

BJP's Reaction from Bihar

Bihar BJP President Sanjay Saraogi said the abrogation corrected a long-standing anomaly that had exempted Jammu and Kashmir from the uniform application of parliamentary legislation. 'We have been raising this slogan since our childhood. Due to the wrong policies of the Congress, the country was partitioned, and whenever Parliament passed a law, it used to state that it applied to the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir,' Saraogi said.

He added that since the 2019 abrogation, every law passed by Parliament now applies to Jammu and Kashmir without exception, calling it a realisation of Mookerjee's vision of one flag, one Constitution, and one Prime Minister. He noted that Modi's remarks were made on the occasion of Mookerjee's 125th birth anniversary.

JD(U) Underlines Constitutional Supremacy

JD(U) National Working President and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha backed the government's position while placing emphasis on constitutional primacy. 'The country is governed by the Constitution, and we all believe in upholding it. As far as our party is concerned, we will not support anything that is contrary to the Constitution,' Jha said.

Bihar Minister Recalls Mookerjee's Arrest

Bihar Minister Dilip Jaiswal also welcomed the Centre's decision and drew a direct line between Mookerjee's detention in Jammu and Kashmir and the eventual abrogation of its special status. Jaiswal quoted the popular refrain — 'Jahan hue balidan Mookerjee, woh Kashmir hamara hai' — and thanked both Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for the move, while accusing the Congress of having 'provided shelter to anti-India forces' in the region.

Broader Context

The Centre revoked the special constitutional status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, bifurcating it into two Union Territories. The move remains one of the most consequential and contested constitutional decisions of the Modi government's tenure. Mookerjee, who died in detention in 1953 while agitating against the permit system that restricted free movement into Jammu and Kashmir, is widely regarded as the ideological forerunner of the BJP's position on the issue. Tuesday's statements signal the ruling alliance's continued use of the abrogation as a defining political and constitutional marker ahead of future electoral cycles.